May 12, 2025 • 47 mins
In this episode, AJ is joined by Sierra Romero, a four-time All-American and NCAA record holder who currently plays for the AUSL Volts. Sierra shares her journey, from facing self-doubt and overcoming injuries to developing confidence and mental resilience in achieving success.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Dropping Diamonds with AJ Andrews is an iHeart women's sports
production in partnership with Athletes Unlimited Softball League and Deep
Blue Sports and Entertainment.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
I want to achieve this, but I'm not there yet, Okay,
and then I guess tomorrow I'm working on getting there, Like,
what next step do I need to take to get there?
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Welcome, Welcome to Dropping Diamonds with AJ Andrews, where wedive
head first into the world of softball. Today I am
joined by the one and only Sierra Romero. She's a
four time All American out of Michigan, NCAA record holder
for career home runs and Grand Slams. She's had an
(00:50):
impressive professional career, earning All NPF honors, and during National
Profilest Pitch Draft, she was dropped a second overall to
ut of LSA Pride and Sierra has represented USA and
currently serves on the Athletes Unlimited Pro Softball Players Executive
Committee and she this coming up a USL season will
be on the bolts and she just continues to inspire
(01:12):
and motivate and uplift women, not just in softball, but
in sports in general. Sierra, thank you for joining me.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Of course thanks for having me on. I'm excited.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
So as I kick things off with dropping diamonds, I
always like to lead things off. We all create like
a theme for the year or a motivation that we
have as we move forward, and so I like to
start with an affirmation. And I wanted to pull this
one from when I went on your podcast and the
conversation we had, and what I really felt like was
(01:43):
the quote that really stuck with me and what we
kind of really talked to a lot was never make
a plan be it only distracts from your plan A.
That is what I feel like is the quote that
feels really good today to go with and the affirmation
to really derive from is today I won't let anything
stop me from achieving my goals the first goal that
(02:05):
I meet, Siera, do you have a favorite quote that
you have really lived by or it's really stuck with
you throughout time.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
I'd say the first one that comes to mind that
I feel like I've had since college is just like
the be so good they can't ignore you. Quote. One
that's more recent is actually funny. It's from the podcast
I was on with you. Do you remember talking about
the three piece Yeah. So it's funny is I made
a twenty twenty five vision board for this year and
I put the three piece on it, and so I
(02:35):
feel like for this year I've been kind of doing
everything in my life around those three piece.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
What are the three piece?
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yeah, if it doesn't bring you a pleasure, paper, or piece,
and so if it doesn't bring me those three things,
I don't want it. I want no part of it.
And I feel like I've been doing that when it
comes to like life and softball. So if it doesn't
serve me softball wise, athletically, emotional, spiritually anything softball or
outside of softball, then it's just not for me. And
(03:05):
so I just kind of let it go. But I
feel like that has been something that's stuck with me
since the podcast with You at the Gym, and I
used it going into twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
That is so real. If it doesn't bring you pleasure, prosperity, paper,
or piece, it's like, what's the point. We gotta we
just have to move along. What do you feel like
as an affirmation we can can bring about that it.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Could be that be so good they can't ignore you.
I really just think like the biggest thing for me
is really just been finding peace in everything in life.
And I feel like with that it's helped me in
like a lot of different avenues in a lot of
different ways. Like even with like season coming up, you know,
I've been just trying to give myself grace in certain areas,
(03:50):
like if things are hurting and things are filling a
little bit, like I got to get the oil on
to get it going, like squeaky wheel kind of thing.
Just trying to not go into that nagati of mindset
of thinking about my age or thinking about whatever it
might be. I'm trying to just kind of focus on
the task at hand, like you said, right, focus on
the plan A. It's never about you know, the plan B.
(04:11):
And just keeping one foot in front of the other.
And I feel like for me, just the affirmation of
like I can do anything that I want to do
and there just is literally nothing that I can't do.
It's just I just got to do it, and I
know and it's been proven that if I put my
mind to something, I'll get it done. Of Course, those
little things creep in like they do for everybody, but
(04:31):
for me, it's just never letting those little voices win.
It's just the you know that I can mentality and
that I don't care that I'm thirty one years old.
I don't care that I'm playing with girls I don't
even know how much younger than me. Like I'm just
as good as not better.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
That's you just yeah, I get thirty one in season girl,
that's like a lot more years you have on them.
That's all that is. It's like, I'm actually just you know,
more wise, more pert. I've made all the mistakes always.
I love that and talking about it. I can do anything,
and it's been proven once I put my mind to it,
and I would say, like the affirmation is there's nothing
(05:09):
that's going to stop me from achieving what I want
to achieve, not even what's between my own two ears.
Do you have those little voices that creep in the
self doubt and the worry and the anxiety.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
How do you silence those? For me, I silenced them
by just proving myself wrong. So like with my knee injury,
like I had so many voices in my head, like
in the process of coming back of being scared to run,
jump and do all these different movements that caused me
pain or I didn't want to go through the pain
I went through with the ACL tear. I had to
(05:42):
just start doing it, putting myself in uncomfortable situations and
working through it. I do that. I feel like in
everyday life with work too. You know, I wasn't always
okay talking in front of a camera. Forced myself to
do it, got over it, figured it out.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
You know.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
I learned from mistakes. I figured out different ways to adjust,
or different things that I can stay away from that
make me a little bit too uncomfortable, and then I
can go more in the direction that makes me thrive.
But I think just for me, it's constantly putting myself
in uncomfortable situations but pushing through it, like giving myself
that grace I talk about like I'm not going to
be perfect at every single time, but I know I
(06:18):
can and I will get there. And you talk about
proving yourself wrong, is it proving like those angel and
the devil on your shoulder, And it's like, I'm going
to go and prove this devil whatever is that they're
saying wrong. To stay motivated to do that when you
feel like the moments of okay, I'm doing all I can,
I'm doing, especially coming back from an injury. Like those
(06:40):
that have been injured before know what a mind absolutely
crazy it is. And it's like you're fighting not only
to get healthy and for your body to feel the
way it used to feel, but also for your mental
to feel comfortable and for you to feel as mentally
strong as you were ahead of time. When you're coming
back from an injury, what would you say is like
(07:02):
the main thing to focus on mentally to not allow
yourself to get caught a rut. Probably just that like
stagnant feeling like it's okay to feel the negative thoughts,
it's okay, and not feel like you're where you want
to be or where you should be. But like the
worst thing you could do is just sit on that.
So like for me, it's for a little while when
(07:22):
those thoughts and feelings and stuff were happening, like I
sat in it, Like I sat in it so bad.
It was just like a pity party dude, Like it
was like I'm likes here, shut up, like get it,
get out of it, get out of here, get out
of your head. Like I was getting sick of myself
just with like the thoughts and the I can't and
That's never been how I've lived my life. And even
(07:43):
when those things sometimes creep in now, I'm just like, Okay,
if I think I can't do something, when I guess
that's what I'm doing tomorrow at the gym, that I
guess that's what I'm doing tomorrow on defense or hitting,
it's like facing that fear or that I can't whatever
is popping in my head. You know. I feel like
it happens with me in like business too. If I'm
I'm like, oh, you know, I want, I want to
achieve this, like, but I'm not there yet, okay, And
(08:05):
then I guess tomorrow I'm working on getting there, Like
what next step do I need to take to get there?
I just don't like sitting in that feeling of not
being able to do something because I genuinely feel like
I can do anything that I want to do. I
just have to There's certain things I may need to
put more effort and time and energy into.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
That makes you think of the saying good better best,
make your good better and your better best, and then well,
you know, if you're injured, you gotta really starting over.
So it's like just get it, get in decent once
you get decent, then get good. And I love the
fact that you go out there's something that you think
one day that I can't do, it's all right, Well,
I guess I gotta go put myself wrong every single time.
(08:42):
Do you feel like that's the mentality you also have
at the plate, Like let's say you strike out or
there's a picture you're just not able to get a
hold of.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
I don't ever like to give pictures credit, you know,
even if it's deserved, Like even if they definitely deserve it,
I'm not saying they don't ever deserve it, but like
if we're going against each other, I never going to
say you're better than me. Honestly, It's gonna be hard
for me to say it even outside of the field.
But I can definitely acknowledge like, yeah, you're good. But
I'm never gonna sit there and be like, oh, yeah
she's got me, like cause it to me. If there's
(09:10):
just one pitch that I need, just like one little
thing I need that I'm the second away from like
being on you and taking the ball out. So for me,
it's just I can't I can't play scared, I can't
act scared. I can't give too much credit, because then
it's like I'm taking away from myself and we're meant
to compete on the field. Like when I'm talking to somebody,
(09:31):
I can give you credit, I can be like, yes,
you're good, Yes you know, you're legit, you're the real deal.
But when we step on the field, in my head,
you're nobody to me, Like, I just have to get
after it and I want to beat you.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Oh man, I love that you can see that in
your demeanor. I always tell people like my one my
favorite people to play against, to play with, was always
Sierra Mahra because you can just see in her embodiment
and the way she carries us off on the field
that there's not a single person, a single soul that
she believe it's better than her stepping on that field.
(10:02):
Developing that confidence, because that is a confidence to reach
the highest levels, to become an All American, then to
play professional softball, Where did you develop that confidence from?
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Oh man, I definitely my mom and dad. I mean,
if there was ever something I said I couldn't do
that was shut down so quick it wasn't even funny.
And I feel like that's like the reason why I
am the way that I am, because if I thought
I couldn't do something, or if I was scared of something,
especially my dad, he would be like, all right, well
let's go, let's go hit off the machine, or like
(10:32):
let's go do ground balls, like whatever it is I
was hesitant about, he was like, hey, well let's go
face that fear, which is why I do that now.
But then I also think the other side of it
is my preparation. I feel like it's really I shouldn't
say easy. It's a lot easier to be confident when
you're prepared. It's a lot easier to feel good about
something when you've done everything you need to do throughout
(10:53):
the week. So for me, I can go oh for
on a weekend. But if my preparation was there and
I feel like I've prepared, I just had a bad weekend.
Then to me, the pitcher got lucky, other team got lucky.
You caught me on a bad day. You know what
I mean. You caught me on a bad day, but
you're not gonna catch me twice.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Oh, this is my favorite thing. I tell you. When
I would talk to like young kids, I would say that,
like come up to the plane. I live Okay, you
got me once, but you're not getting me twice, and
then say, okay, if you get out again, so all right,
you got me a second time, good job, but she
not give me out a third and then like you
keep going until it's your time, and then it's like, okay,
well there. And I love the perspective because it's almost
(11:31):
as if, well, their luck just ran out. It's not
as if they got the better of me. Their luck
ran out, and I.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
It was only a matter of time. It was inevitable,
it was going to happen. It was just a matter
of time.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
That mentality, though, also allows you to stay focused on
yourself rather than getting up to the plane and like,
oh man, god wish she's got a really good curb,
but she also has good rise ball. To your point,
you're saying, okay, well I just need that one pitch,
like it doesn't matter how good you are. I'm looking
for what I'm looking for, and I'm gonna nail it.
Is there one time that was like the experience for
(12:06):
you where all right, this pitcher is getting really lucky,
but inevide, my time is gonna come, and then boom,
my time came.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Dang I'm trying to think which one. I would say
one of the coolest moments. Do you remember Megan Willis
catcher from Texas. So I was playing pro and it
was my first year Pro and we were playing against
Akron Racers Racers and Sarah Paul was pitching, and I
(12:34):
remember she was like a vet right. Everybody is like, oh,
she's really good all this stuff, and I had never
faced her before, and she was getting us like our
team was just getting work through, like nobody was doing
anything she hadn't. She got me out like all this stuff,
and I'm like, I know she's going to come back
with this change up, Like I know she's going to
come back with her change up, Like I just know it.
I'm going to sit it and I'm going to hit
(12:55):
it out. And I remember I sat it. I hit
it out. I didn't realize. I guess in that moment
I must have been kind of just talking out loud
to people around me. I was having a conversation, but
other people heard me. And I came back in and
Willis was like, did you sit that? Because I think
Willis was on staff that year or something, and I
was like yeah. She was like, what made you sit
that and I'm like, well, the ways she pitched me
before I knew she had to come with that, and
(13:18):
like I wasn't going to let it go, like I
had to attack it. And she was like, dude, that's
insane softball IQ to just like, you know, kind of
give me my flowers in that moment, and I was
just like thanks, like I appreciate it. And it was
just cool to see, you know, the evolution of me
going from like college to then pro and taking that
same mentality because she had me majority of that game,
(13:40):
and in my head, I was like, I'm not getting
beat again, Like and if I am going to go down,
like I'm going to go down swinging aggressively. I want
her to think the ball's coming right back at her,
like I'm swinging hard, I'm going to do all the
things I need to do, and we're just going to
go from there.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
When you think about the transition from college to pro,
what was your trend position from high school to college
and that mentality that you had of the softball IQ
did it? Was it always that way or was this
something that helped you really develop it. I'm obsessed with softball.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
I was probably more obsessed when I was younger. You know,
I feel like I've chilled out a little bit now,
but when I was in high school, I was absolutely obsessed.
Like Hutch always told these jokes of like, you know
how you could like call your coach back then, like
when we were being recruited, you could call your coach
and have calls during the week, like your senior year
or whatever it was. I would call her every Friday
(14:32):
the same time on the dot, and one time she
finally like called me out. She's like, see her, do
you not do anything on Friday nights? Do not do
not go anywhere? And I'm like what, Like, what do
you mean coach? Like She's like, you called me on
a Friday night and you call me every Friday night.
At the same time. She's like, I love talking to you,
but like do you also go do other things? And
(14:53):
I was kind of like, I mean yeah, but I
just want to get to Michigan and play, Like I
just wanted to go play and prove myself. We always
joked about it because she'd be like, it's my Friday.
I want to go enjoy myself. But she always would
be spending her Friday night talking to me until she
went and hung out with her people. But it was
always so funny because I really lived like softball twenty
(15:15):
four to seven, and I feel like that's what made
me so prepared for Michigan. Like I did the dances,
I went out, hung out with friends and did all
the things. But you know, I knew that my focus
was being the second person in my family to graduate
from college and go to college and then also to
you know, have that full ride. But I was always
trying to set a really good example for my siblings,
(15:38):
and so for me, it was just always holding myself
to that high standard. And I think holding myself to
that high standard resulted in the results that happened at
the end.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Which are for a time all American World Series all
the things. Fun fact, Sierra Romero and Michigan ended my
collegiate softball career in the World Series in twenty three teen. Anyway,
so my college career it was eva due to Sierra
(16:09):
and Michigan. Great game, I guess, I think we they
ended like three to two. It it was a close game.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Yeah, I think it was a good game. I think
it was. Yeah. Was pitching that game, I think.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Uh huh, yup.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Yeah, and then gosh, good times.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
What a time? Yeah, harder tears had never streamed from
my face than on that day.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
At least you were at the World Series. Some people
ended earlier.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
I know. That's a fact. When you talk about wanting
to be such a good example for your siblings, and
every single one of your siblings are elite athletes. Yourself,
then you have Sidney also played college then playing currently
professionally as well. Your younger sister is playing. Where's she
in school right now?
Speaker 2 (16:53):
She's at Boise State.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Sophia's at Boise State. I remember because ma Acaba was
her favorite right when she was younger.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
Biakobo is her favorite acta. She was obsessive with Bianca.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
I really thought that was so fun. And then your
brother Mikey, who was drafted last year in the first
round to the Boston Red Sox. Yeah, competitiveness in your family,
the drive that you all have. You spoke a lot
about your mom and your dad. Is that where it
all derives from? Oh for sure?
Speaker 2 (17:21):
I think that. Like I said, with like the standards,
those were just always set within the household, you know,
whether it was helping out with cleaning up after dinner,
you know, whether it was helping when it came to
packing lunches up because all of us were going different
ways for school, but also for weekends with sports, you know,
with all of us being in travel ball and just
all the things, like it was very much a team
(17:42):
effort with our family, and you know, we had a
big family, so we always just tried to help each
other out. And it's just the standards. I feel like
that they said. It was just like these are the expectations,
and you know, this is what you're trying to achieve.
And it was never like a if you don't achieve it,
it's not enough. It was just like we know you
can do it, like give your best effort and we'll
(18:06):
figure it out as we go. I remember even with Sophia,
Sophia for a little while, I thought she didn't want
to play softball, and it was around the time when
like YouTube really took off, and Sofia was like I
want to be on YouTube and do YouTube stuff and
makeup and all the things. And I just remember my
parents being like, Okay, well tell us what it is
you want to do, and we want you to be
(18:26):
the best at it, and we're going to give you
the resources to try to be the best. So if
we need to get you, you know, a good camera,
a computer, like whatever things we need to do, you
just need to let us know. So that's how they
were with everything with us. They're just very supportive. They
wanted to make sure our dreams became a reality and
just help support us any way they can.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
There's more to cover, but first let's take a quick break.
Myself and my sisters, we all played sports as well.
And one thing that really set out that my dad
told me that's like ingrain. It's like a part of
my character now, it's just ingrained to me. Said this
(19:05):
to me when I was maybe twelve or eleven thirteen,
one of them, there may be someone more talented, but
there's never should never be anyone that works harder.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
I don't know what it.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
Was about that that pierced in my brain and just
like it pissed me off. I was like, no one
works harder than I do. And so there's any moment
and it got to lsu I remember even just like
laying down after already I'm done extra, but going back
and laying down and just like, man, someone in California
has two hours on me, and that would like motivate
me to get up and go back to the field
(19:36):
and just like work on that one thing that I said, Okay,
well I'll just do it tomorrow. Is there anything that
your mom or your dad has said to you throughout
your career, especially when you're younger, that you really feel
like sticks with you today.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
I feel like with my dad it was probably the
whole like your product of hard work. He would always
tell us like that's what we were a product of.
And so for me it was you know, what I
put in is what I'm going to get out. And
he made that very clear and like everything we did,
even if it was school, like school was the same thing.
You got a bad grade, you didn't study enough, like
(20:10):
you know, you got in trouble, you weren't listening, you
shouldn't have been talking, like whatever it might have been.
It was like, you can control those things. And especially
with like those controllables, it was always teaching us like
if you can control it, then there shouldn't be an issue,
like yeah you can, like they like, okay, I messed
up there, but now'll fix it the next time. You know,
you can take those things and just keep figuring it
out and moving forward. And I think with my mom,
(20:33):
the biggest thing is like not anything specific she said,
but like the love and support she provided my dad,
Oh hardhead, and he's gonna get after it. With us,
my mom was kind of like the one to bring
us back down and be like, no, you're fine, like
let's talk through this, because then it was like all right, well,
once we talked through it, it was like okay, like
(20:54):
I'm straight, I'm good, I'm gonna go work out. I'm
gonna go do this, and I'm gonna be just fine.
I don't care that I just struck out four time
and I'm just trying to figure out what went wrong
all week. You know, I can just let it go
and move on. And I think that she's been the
one that really taught us that, like grace and just
being like, okay, you know, give yourself some time you
had a bad weekend, move on, drop it like let
(21:16):
it go. Sometimes like the hardest thing to do. Let
it go.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
I don't know why that stuff would just like stick
with me there, even though you know you have another game.
It's like, man, I could have clocked that ball.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
I can tell you right now, it's my ego. Yeah,
it's my ego. I can tell you right now, it's
my I know it is. I have an ego and
I will not deny it. I just try to not
let it get in the way of everything that I
want to do and I want to accomplish. And I
can check myself. That's one thing I've learned with age
is I can check myself and be like, all right,
that was very ego of you. Like your ego was
(21:47):
so big there, I was take a step back, relaxed er,
let's reevaluate this and then I'll go. I noticed it
a lot with Skyler. I trained with Skyler out here
in Florida, and there's some times Zach girl is throwing
up crazy weight and I'm like, I got this, and
I'm like, go to benchit. I'm like, don't, don't even
get it off the rat. Yes, oh my okay, Okay,
(22:10):
I'm good. I'm good. I'm gonna I'm gonna go back
to my weight real quick.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
But I think the cool thing about though, is that
you tried, and it's like, look, go get I can
hang with anybody.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
I think oftentimes so some people say to get rid
of your ego.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
I don't know if I believe in that.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
I feel like, I think it's good to have a
little bit of ego, but to your point, be able
to check it when it's necessary.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
I don't want my ego to go anywhere because I
feel like that my confidence goes away, then like all
the things just all of a sudden are gone that
like I want to keep like, I want to think
that I'm that girl. I want to feel like I'm her.
I want to I want to feel strong, I want
to feel like I got that voice, and all of
that comes from my ego. And I think ego sometimes
just gets like put into this like negative connotation for
(22:57):
some reason. And I don't know if there's a better
word we could use for it. But I don't ever
want to get rid of it because it's who I am.
I've developed it over the years. But I'm also humble.
I'm also I can be cocky. If you get me there,
don't make me get there, but I'll you know, I'll
be humble, I'll play, I'll get to whatever level you're at,
(23:19):
or I'll stay at the level you're at. So like
for me, it's just that never back down kind of mentality,
and I think that comes from my ego and I
like it.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
I think you are the perfect example of being exactly
who you are on the field, because as not just softball,
but women in sports, we're told so much to dumb
down who we are, or to humble ourselves, or to
not get too loud, not get too ferocious, not get
(23:49):
to a point where you're talking about it can be cocky,
be cocky.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
I don't know. I get so excited, especially seeing women
in sports talk their shit and go improve it and
do what they have to do. Have you ever had
criticism from being someone that is just so straightforward? It's like, look,
I'm really that girl. You can either get with it
or get in the back of the line. I don't.
It doesn't matter to me.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Oh yeah, this is something I've dealt with my whole life.
Anybody that knows me, you know that that's not me
like it, like really like as a person. But that's
what I'm going to give off when I'm playing, Like,
that's what I'm going to give off. It's gonna be
that that bad energy. I shouldn't say bad. I was
gonna say bad, you know, but I was gonna not
I don't want to say the word. Okay, okay. It's
(24:38):
just so funny because like the first thing that pops
into my head is a story that like this is
nothing to even do with me, Like, I don't know
what this person was thinking. But my mom was at
the World Series when Sydney and I were playing against
each other, and if you know, Sidney and I were
very different. We have the best relationship, but we're very
different people. Sinny's more quiet. I'm going to be a
little bit more vocal. We play very differently. And and
(25:00):
I remember my mom said she was up getting something
to drink, and she gives the person her idea and
they're like, oh, Romero, and this guy out of nowhere
just kind of like chimes in and starts talking to
my mom and is like, oh, you're Romero's sister's mom.
She's like yeah, and he's like, oh, well, I love Sidney,
but I don't like Sierra. I don't like the way
she plays. She's too cocky. And my mom, you can
(25:22):
imagine my mom, Aja, you know how my mom can get.
She can get a little feisty. And my mom was
just like excuse me, like you don't know my daughter.
You don't know her, Like, why would you say that,
Like you have no idea. Sia is one of the
nicest people. Da da da da da, like whatever. And
my mom told me that and I just laughed and
I was like, welcome to my life, mom. I'm like,
(25:42):
everybody thinks that about me. Everybody thinks I have the
RBF face, and everybody thinks I'm mean and all the
things I was like, and then they meet me and
they're like, you're actually not as scary as I thought
you'd be. And I always laugh. My first year at AU,
I can't tell you how many people were like, dude,
I was so intimidated by you and Da da da
(26:03):
da da, and you're actually really chill or you're actually
really cool. And I'm like, yeah, you hate to play
against me, but you love to play with me, and
I love that. I don't want to trade that for anything.
I want you to hate to play against me. I
want to make sure you hate playing against me. But
if you're my teammate, it's gonna be great. We're gonna
have a great time, we're gonna win, We're all going
to succeed.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
Period exclamation point. He scared of me. Actually, that's exactly
what I want that person you are the player that
you are, I mean, that's led you to being the
first player in Michigan history to earn for all American
honors consecutively. For you, when you think about your career
going to Michigan, playing for a legendary coach Hutch, what
(26:43):
was your favorite experience?
Speaker 2 (26:45):
Oh, Man, when we were there, we kind of developed
this like rivalry with UCLA, and I don't know if
that's still intact or where that sits now. And then
we also developed one with Florida State. But I loved
loved beating UCLA every time we played them, and we
beat them. Man, that I was good for the year.
(27:07):
I was like, I'm good, like like I love this.
But so Ucla was actually the school I originally wanted
to go to, and so there was like a little
hidden thing there with me, just like didn't get offered
the offer I wanted, so stepped away. Ended up getting
the offer after I committed to Michigan, and I was like, no,
not going back on my word. You lost it, like
(27:27):
you lost out, Like I'm gonna stick over here with Michigan.
So for me, there was always a little extra like
something every time I played them. So when we I
mean we played against UCLA, it was it was always
really fun and loved beating them. But I would say
with hutch Man, one of my best times with her,
(27:48):
I feel like it's just our like end of the
year talks, like we would have such good end of
the year talks of like what she needed from me
and where I could be better and how I could
be a better player, teammate or leader or whatever it
might have been. And I just feel like I learned
so much from her, Like she was so big on,
you know, being that voice and not being afraid to
(28:11):
push certain boundaries and break glass ceilings and all the
different things, and she just really inspired me. So I
just feel like whether it was practice or games or
end of the year meetings, like I was just always
learning so much from her. I feel like I could
go on about her. I just really think she helped
develop me into that confident like woman and leader that
I am post college.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
You think about confident woman and leader that you are,
What is your leadership style? How do you feel like
is the best way to go about being a great
leader on the field and.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
Off there's so many ways I feel like that you
can lead, and everybody's a little bit different. I think
I'm one of those leader that conforms. I conform based
off my person that I'm talking to, because I don't
believe that everybody wants to be talked to the same way.
And I'm a big observer usually like in the big
whether I'm hanging out with a different crowd or I'm
at an event, like you might catch me just kind
(29:04):
of observing for a little while. And it's not because
I'm trying to be anti social or not talk I'm
trying to like read the room and see, Okay, who
do I probably gravitate to first that might make me
feel more comfortable to get going and get talkative. And
then who could I talk to in this kind of way?
And who do I need to kind of talk to
in this kind of way, like whenever it comes to
(29:26):
like certain things, right like with if it's like Skyler, Okay,
if I'm working with Skyler, I can be blunt. I
can be very blunt with Skyler, and I can say
whatever I want and I do not need to worry
about hurting her feelings. There might be another player I
need to kind of baby you a little bit. I
need to hype you up a little bit more.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
You know.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
But then there's also the player where they're like, give
it to me straight and tell me off and piss
me off, because there's those players that want to be
pissed off going into playing, and I can do that
for you. So for me, it's just like observing and learning,
and I feel like I do that in business too.
I try to make sure business, like if I'm working
with a bigger group on a project or something like that,
like I want to make everybody collectively, you know, feel
(30:07):
included and we're all going to be able to get
to that end goal and work together because ultimately, like
there's room for everybody to win, everybody to eat, make money,
do all the things that we need to do, and
we get there a lot faster when we work together.
So like, I'm really big on just trying to get
everybody in together, working as a collective and on the
same path. I might throw out a really good idea
(30:30):
and all of a sudden, the investors or whoever it
might be, is like super honed in on this idea.
But I don't want Joe up here to feel not
included because his idea wasn't like latched onto. And it's
not that I'm taking away from my shine. Trust me,
I don't want to do that either, as like a
woman and everything else, like I want, I want my
respect and my flowers and all the things. But I'm
(30:51):
also going to go and bring Joe back in and
be like, Joe, can you like elaborate more on that
idea and like what we could do and how we
could expand here, Like I want to make sure that
team is always working together. And I just feel like
I learned that from softball and observing and learning how
to lead in different ways depending on what was needed.
I lead based off what's needed.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
On the business side, you have thirty two approach with
a good friend Summers Thomas Summers when you're thinking of
shout out, Summers, gotta do that one. We didn't want
to talk to Skyler too, like we know you have
to Yeah, oh yeah, he's all that. Yeah, he's gonna
say it means a lot to me, Like I know exactly,
he's gonna be stroking.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
He's like, yeah, it means a lot to me.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
J Yeah, I know, I know. Summers. When you think
about trying to lead, and you're educating. You're continuing to motivate, educate,
show what it is that got you to a place
that you are to help young softball players reach that
in their careers. When you're thinking about your overarching goal
or the mission, or like the one thing you would
(31:57):
want to say to the young athletes that you work
with or want to continue to work with, what is that?
What do you tell them to motivate and to know
that they can get to that space?
Speaker 2 (32:06):
Probably just you get out what you put in right,
and there's nothing that you can accomplish without some hard
work and consistency. You know things are going to be
high and low, But eventually the highs and low start
to even out a little bit more. The highs don't
get too high, the lows don't get too low. But
also just like the importance of being a good person,
(32:28):
like I can't explain enough just how much that plays
into to so many roles, Like there's moments where yes,
you may need to be selfish, but being able to
also take a step back and look at the overall goal,
like especially as softball players, like you can't do it
all on your own. You need somebody else. You need
a team, you need your coaches, you need all these people.
(32:48):
So just the always I'm going to pull out a
quote from my mom, just always doing the right thing
even when nobody's watching. If you always do the right
thing even when nobody's watching, I just can't see that
you're not going to have access and reach the goals
that you want.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
And that reminds me of another one, like treat the
janitor the same way you treat the CEO. You gotta
be good to everybody. Absolutely, People remember that stuff we
talked earlier. You talked about your softball IQ and when
you're hitting off of Sarah Poly how you kind of
knew that when you're thinking of someone stepping up to
the plate, how would you let someone know something that
(33:23):
you're working with? Okay, this is probably what you should
look for, or this is how you can anticipate this.
How did you create that or develop that your IQ?
And how would you explain it to someone?
Speaker 2 (33:34):
A big part of it is my ability to turn
it off too, So it's weird. It's like developing that
IQ is yes, like obviously being aware of it and
studying it. But when I'm in a game, there's times
where I know when to turn it off because it
becomes too much, And there's times when I know I
can turn it back on and be like, Okay, let's
break this down really quick. But let's not like, let's
not zone in on it to the point where now
(33:56):
I'm walking up to the plate thinking is it Am
I getting rise? Am I getting curb? Am I getting dropped?
Like I can't be thinking all of that. I have
to go in with a plan. And so for me,
I got there I think by just one studying film two,
asking a lot of questions. I love having conversations with
my teammates, with my coaches. I love hearing what other
(34:17):
people are seeing. Like, like I said, it's like the
ego thing, right, Like I'm not one to just think
that my way is the only way and that that's
what's going to work for me If I got out,
obviously something I did didn't work, So why not listen
and hear out other people? But like I'm able to
like filter, right, I'm going to filter what I hear
and what I get and take what I need. But
then I can get rid of what I don't need.
(34:38):
And so for me, like just learning like effective velocity
and how pitchers try to set up hitters. There's a
lot of times where I think both Sinny and I
we sometimes know what's coming to us. We may not
know the pitch, but we might know probably what side
it's going to be on, and we just trust ourselves
to be able to adjust to the pitch. I love
(34:58):
hitting me some change up, so that's a plus for me.
For me, I'm like, yes, please throw me the changeup.
So I think that the big thing there is just
you know, tipping my cap when I get fold, but
also knowing that I've done the research and everything else.
I need to be successful, hopefully more often than not.
But I think just really understanding how pitchers throw me
(35:19):
off has been the biggest thing. I pay attention to
those things. Like every year in AU there's been a
new way people have tried to attack me, and I'm
always trying to come in, you know, adjusted to those things.
So like last year, last year, towards the end of season,
I feel like we started to go away to me
a lot. Year before that, it was like change up
(35:41):
mixed with Harden. It was like trying to get me
off balance. And so it's like this year, my hope
and my goal is that with all the work that
I've done, I'm wanting to pull it all together. So
if there's never one thing you're getting me out on,
you have to mix it a lot more because then
for me, it just feels like my adjustment. Don't have
to be so drastic. If that's the case, If I'm
(36:03):
able to make you have to get me out on
multiple things, not just one thing, then I'm doing something right.
Don't work twice.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
It's hard to give me a You can be exhausted
getting me out. We'll be dropping more diamonds after these messages.
What would you say in softball is like your softball dick?
Speaker 2 (36:32):
Oh, I don't like when your skin shows from your
socks to your pants.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
That okay, Like you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (36:44):
Like the knee cleavage, right, Oh, I don't like that.
I'm like, no, I just grow, I don't know, gross
me out a little bit. I don't like it at all.
Speaker 1 (36:54):
No knee cleavage. No, And you know what, sometimes you
couldn't even help it, like when you it's like the
short socks. It's like, y'all, I feel like I would
get knee cleavage a lot. I'm like, I don't want to.
I slide a lot, y'all. I would prefer this cover
of my knee so this doesn't get scraped up. But
y'all about to see my I thought it said them
a Brillian inappropriate instead of like, you know, like boobs,
(37:16):
like boob cleavage. I wasn't called it like the knitties
instead of the titties. Y'all about to see my nitties anyways,
that you know for sure we're gonna go into my
favorite segment, that no fly zone segment, Sierra, whether it's
(37:38):
the outfield or the infield, you turned the field into
a no fly zone. What is your favorite play you
have ever made in your career?
Speaker 2 (37:47):
Ooh, favorite is probably like backhand going up the middle,
jump to a Jeter throw, throw to first base, get
her out. I grew up watching Derek Jeter watching him
make that play, and you know, I wanted to take
it and be able to do that in softball, and
I was really pumped. First time that ever happened. When
was that the first time you did it? I think
(38:08):
the first time I did it like cleanly was college.
I definitely did it in travel ball, but it wasn't
like you know what I mean, it was like a tester. Yeah,
I felt like it wasn't as smooth. It wasn't like
it College was definitely the first time you.
Speaker 1 (38:21):
Are an elite fielder. But I feel like when we
think of Sierra Mara, everyone fears that swing and it's
just like, oh my god, here she comes. Developing your
swing and developing your skill set on the field. What
was that process like for you?
Speaker 2 (38:39):
I feel like it was tedious. I think. I mean,
you know, you do it all, you slap, you hit,
you all of a sudden would hit it out the
park and everyone's like, wait a second. And then she's
also running like a I don't even know two five
down the line for all I know. But it's it's
that whole like wanting to be a triple threat, right,
Like you want to have a little bit of everything.
You want to be able to hit the outside, the inside,
(39:01):
all the things. You don't want to be one dimensional.
So for me, it was very tedious, like you're constantly
critiquing yourself, You're constantly trying to perfect little things. But
I think that that's also what's so fun about our sport.
Like hitting is hard. Hitting is really hard. So sometimes
when people are like, oh, well, how do you do this?
And how did you do that? I promise you it's
not going to fix whatever issue you have going on
(39:22):
by me telling you the one thing I'm working on,
because yours is probably different and you probably need to
work on it for like ten hours, like consist like
you need to work on it for a long, long,
long time. It's not just going to be fixed if
I give you one drill, like you got to do
that one drill a million times before it gets to
where it needs to be. So obviously it was tedious
and it was very time consuming. But I think the
(39:44):
one thing that always stuck with me no matter what
was swinging with the purpose. I swung the bat. I
swung the bat to hit the absolute shit out the ball.
Speaker 1 (39:54):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (39:55):
That's what I do. If I'm gonna mishit it, it's
going to be hit hard. I don't like hitting little dinkers.
If I'm going to hit the ball, and if I'm
going to swing the bat, I'm swinging hard. Like you said,
I want you to be intimidated and scared what I'm
swinging the bat because I'm swinging with the purpose and
I'm swinging violently and like, I want to create that
power and that chaos.
Speaker 1 (40:16):
Creating the power, creating the chaos going up with intention
every single time you up to bat, or whether even
on the field as well. We know though that failure
is inevitable in this game, but failure leads to some
of the dopest successes. And you being one of the successful,
most successful collegiate players, especially most successful collegiate players that
(40:37):
ever came out of Michigan, what would you say is
your favorite failure that's ultimately led to some of your
best successes?
Speaker 2 (40:45):
So, dah, this was rough. I remember this when I
was at Michigan. I was at shortstop to start out
my career, and I remember Sarah Jazinga was pitching. She's
a heavy drop ball pitcher, and we were playing think
out here actually at the clear Water Feels any Seymore
And you know sometimes those fields can be a little
(41:06):
bit scary, you know that dirt, can you be? I
think it was definitely in my head a little bit,
and she was doing her job getting me ground ball
after ground ball, and I at one point I think
I think I probably had I'm not kidding, like probably
six or eight air is that game, and I remember
getting the ball, running it back to her and being like, dude,
(41:29):
I'm sorry, like I'm trying. I'm trying really hard out here,
but like it's just not going my way, and Sarah
being Sarah, she's like it's okay. She's like, you're fine,
Like I'm going to get you another ground ball. You're
going to get her out, and we're good. And eventually
she gets me another ground ball. I feeled it make
the play, and I remember, and this was my freshman year,
(41:51):
so I'm like embarrassed. I'm like, man, they're gonna think, oh,
she's just some freshman, like she's not that good, or
they need coach needs to take her out. And I
remember in that moment, I had so much self doubt.
I was like, do I suck? Like what is going on?
Like I'm letting my team down. Like I can't even
feel the ground ball, like I was turning into a
catcher at shortstop. I was just trying to block it
(42:12):
at that point, like I was like, just stay in
front of me. My teammates are telling me I'm fine whatever,
I'm totally not feeling fine, and I just remember looking
at Hutch and I know the look I gave her,
I for sure gave her like a defeated probably look
like I don't know if I can do this, And
I just remember her looking at me and going, you
better figure it out because I'm not taking you out
(42:34):
of this a fine game. And I was like, yes, ma'am, okay,
all right, but I'm f I guess I gotta figure
it out. So for me after that, it was like, Okay,
part of me figuring out is I need to make
up for it with hitting. So for me, it was
like get the hit, get on base, do whatever I
needed to do to help. But I definitely think that
feeling the confidence from my teammates, feeling the confidence and
(42:57):
motivation from my coach was like come on, like you're fine,
Like don't overthink this, like you got this kind of thing.
So that was definitely a moment where I was like
all a little a little mental there because I was like,
I can't fill this grumball to save my life right now,
and I don't want to be the reason we lose
this game.
Speaker 1 (43:17):
And that can be like the most defeating feeling to
where we're saying like, yo, I am trying, like I
have no answers for you. I don't know, but coming
be able to come back from is kind of just
like you snap out of it. Right, Look, I'm good,
I know I'm good. Let me just make this play
and get out and move to the next one. And
then moving forward through success once you realize you got
(43:40):
to like the worst game you've ever played, so all right, well,
can't be worse than that. Literally, I'm gonna keep going
at that, keep going.
Speaker 2 (43:48):
Once you start to have some of that success too,
you know then what you're capable of. So then you
get to that rut you're like this will pass, like whatever,
Like this is literally going to pass. I know who
I am, I know what I'm capable of whatever. And
in that moment for me, though, it was like I
didn't know yet what I was capable of. I knew
what travel ball in high school ser was capable of,
(44:10):
but now I was trying to figure out who am
I as a collegiate Division one softball player, and I
was trying to prove myself and prove I deserve to start.
And I was still just trying to prove that I
had earned all those things because that was my big thing,
Like I never want something that I don't deserve or
that I didn't earn. So for me, it's like I
don't want anything handed to me. And in that moment,
(44:30):
I didn't want to be wrong right and be like dang,
you know, maybe I shouldn't be a starter, Like no,
I should. I just hadn't had that success yet. That
really gave me that confidence in that moment as a
freshman when that happened, I was like definitely questioning a lot.
You know. I feel like after the game, my confidence
(44:51):
really kicked in. Thank goodness, Like I wasn't someone who
just kind of was like, oh man, that was terrible.
I sucked whatever. Hutch was worried about me, and and
when I got back to Michigan after that tournament, she
called me in for a meeting and I'm thinking, I'm
in trouble. I'm like, what did I do? I've been
going to class. I don't know what she's calling me
in for. She was like, I just want to check
in with you and see how you're doing after this weekend.
(45:14):
And I was like I'm fine, Like what do you mean?
Like why wouldn't I be okay? She's like, well, you
know those airs this you didn't play very good and
I was like, yeah, I just didn't do what I
normally do. And like for me, it was like it
was like, this is no big deal, This isn't something
we need to talk about or like sit on like
I'm I'm fine, Like I I want to practice now.
(45:35):
I want to get this week over with with practice,
and I want to go play and I want to
you know, kick some ass, give me another opportunity, like
let's go.
Speaker 1 (45:43):
All it was that doesn't do what I normally do?
That was that was wasn't that wasnt Sierra. That was
somebody Elseira this week? Right, Yeah, next for our whole
conversation where we talk about dropping diamonds and being able
to feel and know exactly who you are. It's like
going out and proving yourself wrong. That person wasn't the
(46:04):
Sierra that I know I'm capable of the age and
I know I'm capable of and once you do get
that next opportunity, be so good that they can't ignore you. Yes, Sierra,
thank you so much for coming on dropping diamonds and
dropping your diamonds. I feel like, I mean, this doesn't
fire you up. I don't know what it is at
the end of the day, nobody's better than you. The
(46:26):
mentality of Sierra. Nobody's better than you. They just got lucky.
So next time, just don't let them get lucky.
Speaker 2 (46:33):
Exactly. Thank you so much for having me. This is awesome.
Speaker 1 (46:37):
I appreciate it all right, y'all, Remember, be so good
that they can't ignore you. And if they got you out,
they just got lucky. So go up the second time,
the third, the fourth. Inevitably, eventually you will win. I'll
meet y'all next week back here on the diamond by
for Now. Dropping Diamonds with AJ Andrews is an iHeart
(47:01):
women's sports production in partnership with Athletes Unlimited Softball League
and Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. I'm your host, AJ Andrews.
Our executive producer is Jesse Katz. Tari Harrison is our
supervising producer, and this episode was mixed and mastered by
Mary Do. Listen to Dropping Diamonds with AJ Andrews on
the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your
(47:24):
podcasts
Dropping Diamonds with AJ Andrews is an iHeart women's sports
production in partnership with Athletes Unlimited Softball League and Deep
Blue Sports and Entertainment.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
I want to achieve this, but I'm not there yet, Okay,
and then I guess tomorrow I'm working on getting there, Like,
what next step do I need to take to get there?
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Welcome, Welcome to Dropping Diamonds with AJ Andrews, where wedive
head first into the world of softball. Today I am
joined by the one and only Sierra Romero. She's a
four time All American out of Michigan, NCAA record holder
for career home runs and Grand Slams. She's had an
(00:50):
impressive professional career, earning All NPF honors, and during National
Profilest Pitch Draft, she was dropped a second overall to
ut of LSA Pride and Sierra has represented USA and
currently serves on the Athletes Unlimited Pro Softball Players Executive
Committee and she this coming up a USL season will
be on the bolts and she just continues to inspire
(01:12):
and motivate and uplift women, not just in softball, but
in sports in general. Sierra, thank you for joining me.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Of course thanks for having me on. I'm excited.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
So as I kick things off with dropping diamonds, I
always like to lead things off. We all create like
a theme for the year or a motivation that we
have as we move forward, and so I like to
start with an affirmation. And I wanted to pull this
one from when I went on your podcast and the
conversation we had, and what I really felt like was
(01:43):
the quote that really stuck with me and what we
kind of really talked to a lot was never make
a plan be it only distracts from your plan A.
That is what I feel like is the quote that
feels really good today to go with and the affirmation
to really derive from is today I won't let anything
stop me from achieving my goals the first goal that
(02:05):
I meet, Siera, do you have a favorite quote that
you have really lived by or it's really stuck with
you throughout time.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
I'd say the first one that comes to mind that
I feel like I've had since college is just like
the be so good they can't ignore you. Quote. One
that's more recent is actually funny. It's from the podcast
I was on with you. Do you remember talking about
the three piece Yeah. So it's funny is I made
a twenty twenty five vision board for this year and
I put the three piece on it, and so I
(02:35):
feel like for this year I've been kind of doing
everything in my life around those three piece.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
What are the three piece?
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yeah, if it doesn't bring you a pleasure, paper, or piece,
and so if it doesn't bring me those three things,
I don't want it. I want no part of it.
And I feel like I've been doing that when it
comes to like life and softball. So if it doesn't
serve me softball wise, athletically, emotional, spiritually anything softball or
outside of softball, then it's just not for me. And
(03:05):
so I just kind of let it go. But I
feel like that has been something that's stuck with me
since the podcast with You at the Gym, and I
used it going into twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
That is so real. If it doesn't bring you pleasure, prosperity, paper,
or piece, it's like, what's the point. We gotta we
just have to move along. What do you feel like
as an affirmation we can can bring about that it.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Could be that be so good they can't ignore you.
I really just think like the biggest thing for me
is really just been finding peace in everything in life.
And I feel like with that it's helped me in
like a lot of different avenues in a lot of
different ways. Like even with like season coming up, you know,
I've been just trying to give myself grace in certain areas,
(03:50):
like if things are hurting and things are filling a
little bit, like I got to get the oil on
to get it going, like squeaky wheel kind of thing.
Just trying to not go into that nagati of mindset
of thinking about my age or thinking about whatever it
might be. I'm trying to just kind of focus on
the task at hand, like you said, right, focus on
the plan A. It's never about you know, the plan B.
(04:11):
And just keeping one foot in front of the other.
And I feel like for me, just the affirmation of
like I can do anything that I want to do
and there just is literally nothing that I can't do.
It's just I just got to do it, and I
know and it's been proven that if I put my
mind to something, I'll get it done. Of Course, those
little things creep in like they do for everybody, but
(04:31):
for me, it's just never letting those little voices win.
It's just the you know that I can mentality and
that I don't care that I'm thirty one years old.
I don't care that I'm playing with girls I don't
even know how much younger than me. Like I'm just
as good as not better.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
That's you just yeah, I get thirty one in season girl,
that's like a lot more years you have on them.
That's all that is. It's like, I'm actually just you know,
more wise, more pert. I've made all the mistakes always.
I love that and talking about it. I can do anything,
and it's been proven once I put my mind to it,
and I would say, like the affirmation is there's nothing
(05:09):
that's going to stop me from achieving what I want
to achieve, not even what's between my own two ears.
Do you have those little voices that creep in the
self doubt and the worry and the anxiety.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
How do you silence those? For me, I silenced them
by just proving myself wrong. So like with my knee injury,
like I had so many voices in my head, like
in the process of coming back of being scared to run,
jump and do all these different movements that caused me
pain or I didn't want to go through the pain
I went through with the ACL tear. I had to
(05:42):
just start doing it, putting myself in uncomfortable situations and
working through it. I do that. I feel like in
everyday life with work too. You know, I wasn't always
okay talking in front of a camera. Forced myself to
do it, got over it, figured it out.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
You know.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
I learned from mistakes. I figured out different ways to adjust,
or different things that I can stay away from that
make me a little bit too uncomfortable, and then I
can go more in the direction that makes me thrive.
But I think just for me, it's constantly putting myself
in uncomfortable situations but pushing through it, like giving myself
that grace I talk about like I'm not going to
be perfect at every single time, but I know I
(06:18):
can and I will get there. And you talk about
proving yourself wrong, is it proving like those angel and
the devil on your shoulder, And it's like, I'm going
to go and prove this devil whatever is that they're
saying wrong. To stay motivated to do that when you
feel like the moments of okay, I'm doing all I can,
I'm doing, especially coming back from an injury. Like those
(06:40):
that have been injured before know what a mind absolutely
crazy it is. And it's like you're fighting not only
to get healthy and for your body to feel the
way it used to feel, but also for your mental
to feel comfortable and for you to feel as mentally
strong as you were ahead of time. When you're coming
back from an injury, what would you say is like
(07:02):
the main thing to focus on mentally to not allow
yourself to get caught a rut. Probably just that like
stagnant feeling like it's okay to feel the negative thoughts,
it's okay, and not feel like you're where you want
to be or where you should be. But like the
worst thing you could do is just sit on that.
So like for me, it's for a little while when
(07:22):
those thoughts and feelings and stuff were happening, like I
sat in it, Like I sat in it so bad.
It was just like a pity party dude, Like it
was like I'm likes here, shut up, like get it,
get out of it, get out of here, get out
of your head. Like I was getting sick of myself
just with like the thoughts and the I can't and
That's never been how I've lived my life. And even
(07:43):
when those things sometimes creep in now, I'm just like, Okay,
if I think I can't do something, when I guess
that's what I'm doing tomorrow at the gym, that I
guess that's what I'm doing tomorrow on defense or hitting,
it's like facing that fear or that I can't whatever
is popping in my head. You know. I feel like
it happens with me in like business too. If I'm
I'm like, oh, you know, I want, I want to
achieve this, like, but I'm not there yet, okay, And
(08:05):
then I guess tomorrow I'm working on getting there, Like
what next step do I need to take to get there?
I just don't like sitting in that feeling of not
being able to do something because I genuinely feel like
I can do anything that I want to do. I
just have to There's certain things I may need to
put more effort and time and energy into.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
That makes you think of the saying good better best,
make your good better and your better best, and then well,
you know, if you're injured, you gotta really starting over.
So it's like just get it, get in decent once
you get decent, then get good. And I love the
fact that you go out there's something that you think
one day that I can't do, it's all right, Well,
I guess I gotta go put myself wrong every single time.
(08:42):
Do you feel like that's the mentality you also have
at the plate, Like let's say you strike out or
there's a picture you're just not able to get a
hold of.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
I don't ever like to give pictures credit, you know,
even if it's deserved, Like even if they definitely deserve it,
I'm not saying they don't ever deserve it, but like
if we're going against each other, I never going to
say you're better than me. Honestly, It's gonna be hard
for me to say it even outside of the field.
But I can definitely acknowledge like, yeah, you're good. But
I'm never gonna sit there and be like, oh, yeah
she's got me, like cause it to me. If there's
(09:10):
just one pitch that I need, just like one little
thing I need that I'm the second away from like
being on you and taking the ball out. So for me,
it's just I can't I can't play scared, I can't
act scared. I can't give too much credit, because then
it's like I'm taking away from myself and we're meant
to compete on the field. Like when I'm talking to somebody,
(09:31):
I can give you credit, I can be like, yes,
you're good, Yes you know, you're legit, you're the real deal.
But when we step on the field, in my head,
you're nobody to me, Like, I just have to get
after it and I want to beat you.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Oh man, I love that you can see that in
your demeanor. I always tell people like my one my
favorite people to play against, to play with, was always
Sierra Mahra because you can just see in her embodiment
and the way she carries us off on the field
that there's not a single person, a single soul that
she believe it's better than her stepping on that field.
(10:02):
Developing that confidence, because that is a confidence to reach
the highest levels, to become an All American, then to
play professional softball, Where did you develop that confidence from?
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Oh man, I definitely my mom and dad. I mean,
if there was ever something I said I couldn't do
that was shut down so quick it wasn't even funny.
And I feel like that's like the reason why I
am the way that I am, because if I thought
I couldn't do something, or if I was scared of something,
especially my dad, he would be like, all right, well
let's go, let's go hit off the machine, or like
(10:32):
let's go do ground balls, like whatever it is I
was hesitant about, he was like, hey, well let's go
face that fear, which is why I do that now.
But then I also think the other side of it
is my preparation. I feel like it's really I shouldn't
say easy. It's a lot easier to be confident when
you're prepared. It's a lot easier to feel good about
something when you've done everything you need to do throughout
(10:53):
the week. So for me, I can go oh for
on a weekend. But if my preparation was there and
I feel like I've prepared, I just had a bad weekend.
Then to me, the pitcher got lucky, other team got lucky.
You caught me on a bad day. You know what
I mean. You caught me on a bad day, but
you're not gonna catch me twice.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Oh, this is my favorite thing. I tell you. When
I would talk to like young kids, I would say that,
like come up to the plane. I live Okay, you
got me once, but you're not getting me twice, and
then say, okay, if you get out again, so all right,
you got me a second time, good job, but she
not give me out a third and then like you
keep going until it's your time, and then it's like, okay,
well there. And I love the perspective because it's almost
(11:31):
as if, well, their luck just ran out. It's not
as if they got the better of me. Their luck
ran out, and I.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
It was only a matter of time. It was inevitable,
it was going to happen. It was just a matter
of time.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
That mentality, though, also allows you to stay focused on
yourself rather than getting up to the plane and like,
oh man, god wish she's got a really good curb,
but she also has good rise ball. To your point,
you're saying, okay, well I just need that one pitch,
like it doesn't matter how good you are. I'm looking
for what I'm looking for, and I'm gonna nail it.
Is there one time that was like the experience for
(12:06):
you where all right, this pitcher is getting really lucky,
but inevide, my time is gonna come, and then boom,
my time came.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Dang I'm trying to think which one. I would say
one of the coolest moments. Do you remember Megan Willis
catcher from Texas. So I was playing pro and it
was my first year Pro and we were playing against
Akron Racers Racers and Sarah Paul was pitching, and I
(12:34):
remember she was like a vet right. Everybody is like, oh,
she's really good all this stuff, and I had never
faced her before, and she was getting us like our
team was just getting work through, like nobody was doing
anything she hadn't. She got me out like all this stuff,
and I'm like, I know she's going to come back
with this change up, Like I know she's going to
come back with her change up, Like I just know it.
I'm going to sit it and I'm going to hit
(12:55):
it out. And I remember I sat it. I hit
it out. I didn't realize. I guess in that moment
I must have been kind of just talking out loud
to people around me. I was having a conversation, but
other people heard me. And I came back in and
Willis was like, did you sit that? Because I think
Willis was on staff that year or something, and I
was like yeah. She was like, what made you sit
that and I'm like, well, the ways she pitched me
before I knew she had to come with that, and
(13:18):
like I wasn't going to let it go, like I
had to attack it. And she was like, dude, that's
insane softball IQ to just like, you know, kind of
give me my flowers in that moment, and I was
just like thanks, like I appreciate it. And it was
just cool to see, you know, the evolution of me
going from like college to then pro and taking that
same mentality because she had me majority of that game,
(13:40):
and in my head, I was like, I'm not getting
beat again, Like and if I am going to go down,
like I'm going to go down swinging aggressively. I want
her to think the ball's coming right back at her,
like I'm swinging hard, I'm going to do all the
things I need to do, and we're just going to
go from there.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
When you think about the transition from college to pro,
what was your trend position from high school to college
and that mentality that you had of the softball IQ
did it? Was it always that way or was this
something that helped you really develop it. I'm obsessed with softball.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
I was probably more obsessed when I was younger. You know,
I feel like I've chilled out a little bit now,
but when I was in high school, I was absolutely obsessed.
Like Hutch always told these jokes of like, you know
how you could like call your coach back then, like
when we were being recruited, you could call your coach
and have calls during the week, like your senior year
or whatever it was. I would call her every Friday
(14:32):
the same time on the dot, and one time she
finally like called me out. She's like, see her, do
you not do anything on Friday nights? Do not do
not go anywhere? And I'm like what, Like, what do
you mean coach? Like She's like, you called me on
a Friday night and you call me every Friday night.
At the same time. She's like, I love talking to you,
but like do you also go do other things? And
(14:53):
I was kind of like, I mean yeah, but I
just want to get to Michigan and play, Like I
just wanted to go play and prove myself. We always
joked about it because she'd be like, it's my Friday.
I want to go enjoy myself. But she always would
be spending her Friday night talking to me until she
went and hung out with her people. But it was
always so funny because I really lived like softball twenty
(15:15):
four to seven, and I feel like that's what made
me so prepared for Michigan. Like I did the dances,
I went out, hung out with friends and did all
the things. But you know, I knew that my focus
was being the second person in my family to graduate
from college and go to college and then also to
you know, have that full ride. But I was always
trying to set a really good example for my siblings,
(15:38):
and so for me, it was just always holding myself
to that high standard. And I think holding myself to
that high standard resulted in the results that happened at
the end.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Which are for a time all American World Series all
the things. Fun fact, Sierra Romero and Michigan ended my
collegiate softball career in the World Series in twenty three teen. Anyway,
so my college career it was eva due to Sierra
(16:09):
and Michigan. Great game, I guess, I think we they
ended like three to two. It it was a close game.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Yeah, I think it was a good game. I think
it was. Yeah. Was pitching that game, I think.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Uh huh, yup.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Yeah, and then gosh, good times.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
What a time? Yeah, harder tears had never streamed from
my face than on that day.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
At least you were at the World Series. Some people
ended earlier.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
I know. That's a fact. When you talk about wanting
to be such a good example for your siblings, and
every single one of your siblings are elite athletes. Yourself,
then you have Sidney also played college then playing currently
professionally as well. Your younger sister is playing. Where's she
in school right now?
Speaker 2 (16:53):
She's at Boise State.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Sophia's at Boise State. I remember because ma Acaba was
her favorite right when she was younger.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
Biakobo is her favorite acta. She was obsessive with Bianca.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
I really thought that was so fun. And then your
brother Mikey, who was drafted last year in the first
round to the Boston Red Sox. Yeah, competitiveness in your family,
the drive that you all have. You spoke a lot
about your mom and your dad. Is that where it
all derives from? Oh for sure?
Speaker 2 (17:21):
I think that. Like I said, with like the standards,
those were just always set within the household, you know,
whether it was helping out with cleaning up after dinner,
you know, whether it was helping when it came to
packing lunches up because all of us were going different
ways for school, but also for weekends with sports, you know,
with all of us being in travel ball and just
all the things, like it was very much a team
(17:42):
effort with our family, and you know, we had a
big family, so we always just tried to help each
other out. And it's just the standards. I feel like
that they said. It was just like these are the expectations,
and you know, this is what you're trying to achieve.
And it was never like a if you don't achieve it,
it's not enough. It was just like we know you
can do it, like give your best effort and we'll
(18:06):
figure it out as we go. I remember even with Sophia,
Sophia for a little while, I thought she didn't want
to play softball, and it was around the time when
like YouTube really took off, and Sofia was like I
want to be on YouTube and do YouTube stuff and
makeup and all the things. And I just remember my
parents being like, Okay, well tell us what it is
you want to do, and we want you to be
(18:26):
the best at it, and we're going to give you
the resources to try to be the best. So if
we need to get you, you know, a good camera,
a computer, like whatever things we need to do, you
just need to let us know. So that's how they
were with everything with us. They're just very supportive. They
wanted to make sure our dreams became a reality and
just help support us any way they can.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
There's more to cover, but first let's take a quick break.
Myself and my sisters, we all played sports as well.
And one thing that really set out that my dad
told me that's like ingrain. It's like a part of
my character now, it's just ingrained to me. Said this
(19:05):
to me when I was maybe twelve or eleven thirteen,
one of them, there may be someone more talented, but
there's never should never be anyone that works harder.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
I don't know what it.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
Was about that that pierced in my brain and just
like it pissed me off. I was like, no one
works harder than I do. And so there's any moment
and it got to lsu I remember even just like
laying down after already I'm done extra, but going back
and laying down and just like, man, someone in California
has two hours on me, and that would like motivate
me to get up and go back to the field
(19:36):
and just like work on that one thing that I said, Okay,
well I'll just do it tomorrow. Is there anything that
your mom or your dad has said to you throughout
your career, especially when you're younger, that you really feel
like sticks with you today.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
I feel like with my dad it was probably the
whole like your product of hard work. He would always
tell us like that's what we were a product of.
And so for me it was you know, what I
put in is what I'm going to get out. And
he made that very clear and like everything we did,
even if it was school, like school was the same thing.
You got a bad grade, you didn't study enough, like
(20:10):
you know, you got in trouble, you weren't listening, you
shouldn't have been talking, like whatever it might have been.
It was like, you can control those things. And especially
with like those controllables, it was always teaching us like
if you can control it, then there shouldn't be an issue,
like yeah you can, like they like, okay, I messed
up there, but now'll fix it the next time. You know,
you can take those things and just keep figuring it
out and moving forward. And I think with my mom,
(20:33):
the biggest thing is like not anything specific she said,
but like the love and support she provided my dad,
Oh hardhead, and he's gonna get after it. With us,
my mom was kind of like the one to bring
us back down and be like, no, you're fine, like
let's talk through this, because then it was like all right, well,
once we talked through it, it was like okay, like
(20:54):
I'm straight, I'm good, I'm gonna go work out. I'm
gonna go do this, and I'm gonna be just fine.
I don't care that I just struck out four time
and I'm just trying to figure out what went wrong
all week. You know, I can just let it go
and move on. And I think that she's been the
one that really taught us that, like grace and just
being like, okay, you know, give yourself some time you
had a bad weekend, move on, drop it like let
(21:16):
it go. Sometimes like the hardest thing to do. Let
it go.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
I don't know why that stuff would just like stick
with me there, even though you know you have another game.
It's like, man, I could have clocked that ball.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
I can tell you right now, it's my ego. Yeah,
it's my ego. I can tell you right now, it's
my I know it is. I have an ego and
I will not deny it. I just try to not
let it get in the way of everything that I
want to do and I want to accomplish. And I
can check myself. That's one thing I've learned with age
is I can check myself and be like, all right,
that was very ego of you. Like your ego was
(21:47):
so big there, I was take a step back, relaxed er,
let's reevaluate this and then I'll go. I noticed it
a lot with Skyler. I trained with Skyler out here
in Florida, and there's some times Zach girl is throwing
up crazy weight and I'm like, I got this, and
I'm like, go to benchit. I'm like, don't, don't even
get it off the rat. Yes, oh my okay, Okay,
(22:10):
I'm good. I'm good. I'm gonna I'm gonna go back
to my weight real quick.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
But I think the cool thing about though, is that
you tried, and it's like, look, go get I can
hang with anybody.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
I think oftentimes so some people say to get rid
of your ego.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
I don't know if I believe in that.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
I feel like, I think it's good to have a
little bit of ego, but to your point, be able
to check it when it's necessary.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
I don't want my ego to go anywhere because I
feel like that my confidence goes away, then like all
the things just all of a sudden are gone that
like I want to keep like, I want to think
that I'm that girl. I want to feel like I'm her.
I want to I want to feel strong, I want
to feel like I got that voice, and all of
that comes from my ego. And I think ego sometimes
just gets like put into this like negative connotation for
(22:57):
some reason. And I don't know if there's a better
word we could use for it. But I don't ever
want to get rid of it because it's who I am.
I've developed it over the years. But I'm also humble.
I'm also I can be cocky. If you get me there,
don't make me get there, but I'll you know, I'll
be humble, I'll play, I'll get to whatever level you're at,
(23:19):
or I'll stay at the level you're at. So like
for me, it's just that never back down kind of mentality,
and I think that comes from my ego and I
like it.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
I think you are the perfect example of being exactly
who you are on the field, because as not just softball,
but women in sports, we're told so much to dumb
down who we are, or to humble ourselves, or to
not get too loud, not get too ferocious, not get
(23:49):
to a point where you're talking about it can be cocky,
be cocky.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
I don't know. I get so excited, especially seeing women
in sports talk their shit and go improve it and
do what they have to do. Have you ever had
criticism from being someone that is just so straightforward? It's like, look,
I'm really that girl. You can either get with it
or get in the back of the line. I don't.
It doesn't matter to me.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Oh yeah, this is something I've dealt with my whole life.
Anybody that knows me, you know that that's not me
like it, like really like as a person. But that's
what I'm going to give off when I'm playing, Like,
that's what I'm going to give off. It's gonna be
that that bad energy. I shouldn't say bad. I was
gonna say bad, you know, but I was gonna not
I don't want to say the word. Okay, okay. It's
(24:38):
just so funny because like the first thing that pops
into my head is a story that like this is
nothing to even do with me, Like, I don't know
what this person was thinking. But my mom was at
the World Series when Sydney and I were playing against
each other, and if you know, Sidney and I were
very different. We have the best relationship, but we're very
different people. Sinny's more quiet. I'm going to be a
little bit more vocal. We play very differently. And and
(25:00):
I remember my mom said she was up getting something
to drink, and she gives the person her idea and
they're like, oh, Romero, and this guy out of nowhere
just kind of like chimes in and starts talking to
my mom and is like, oh, you're Romero's sister's mom.
She's like yeah, and he's like, oh, well, I love Sidney,
but I don't like Sierra. I don't like the way
she plays. She's too cocky. And my mom, you can
(25:22):
imagine my mom, Aja, you know how my mom can get.
She can get a little feisty. And my mom was
just like excuse me, like you don't know my daughter.
You don't know her, Like, why would you say that,
Like you have no idea. Sia is one of the
nicest people. Da da da da da, like whatever. And
my mom told me that and I just laughed and
I was like, welcome to my life, mom. I'm like,
(25:42):
everybody thinks that about me. Everybody thinks I have the
RBF face, and everybody thinks I'm mean and all the
things I was like, and then they meet me and
they're like, you're actually not as scary as I thought
you'd be. And I always laugh. My first year at AU,
I can't tell you how many people were like, dude,
I was so intimidated by you and Da da da
(26:03):
da da, and you're actually really chill or you're actually
really cool. And I'm like, yeah, you hate to play
against me, but you love to play with me, and
I love that. I don't want to trade that for anything.
I want you to hate to play against me. I
want to make sure you hate playing against me. But
if you're my teammate, it's gonna be great. We're gonna
have a great time, we're gonna win, We're all going
to succeed.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
Period exclamation point. He scared of me. Actually, that's exactly
what I want that person you are the player that
you are, I mean, that's led you to being the
first player in Michigan history to earn for all American
honors consecutively. For you, when you think about your career
going to Michigan, playing for a legendary coach Hutch, what
(26:43):
was your favorite experience?
Speaker 2 (26:45):
Oh, Man, when we were there, we kind of developed
this like rivalry with UCLA, and I don't know if
that's still intact or where that sits now. And then
we also developed one with Florida State. But I loved
loved beating UCLA every time we played them, and we
beat them. Man, that I was good for the year.
(27:07):
I was like, I'm good, like like I love this.
But so Ucla was actually the school I originally wanted
to go to, and so there was like a little
hidden thing there with me, just like didn't get offered
the offer I wanted, so stepped away. Ended up getting
the offer after I committed to Michigan, and I was like, no,
not going back on my word. You lost it, like
(27:27):
you lost out, Like I'm gonna stick over here with Michigan.
So for me, there was always a little extra like
something every time I played them. So when we I
mean we played against UCLA, it was it was always
really fun and loved beating them. But I would say
with hutch Man, one of my best times with her,
(27:48):
I feel like it's just our like end of the
year talks, like we would have such good end of
the year talks of like what she needed from me
and where I could be better and how I could
be a better player, teammate or leader or whatever it
might have been. And I just feel like I learned
so much from her, Like she was so big on,
you know, being that voice and not being afraid to
(28:11):
push certain boundaries and break glass ceilings and all the
different things, and she just really inspired me. So I
just feel like whether it was practice or games or
end of the year meetings, like I was just always
learning so much from her. I feel like I could
go on about her. I just really think she helped
develop me into that confident like woman and leader that
I am post college.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
You think about confident woman and leader that you are,
What is your leadership style? How do you feel like
is the best way to go about being a great
leader on the field and.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
Off there's so many ways I feel like that you
can lead, and everybody's a little bit different. I think
I'm one of those leader that conforms. I conform based
off my person that I'm talking to, because I don't
believe that everybody wants to be talked to the same way.
And I'm a big observer usually like in the big
whether I'm hanging out with a different crowd or I'm
at an event, like you might catch me just kind
(29:04):
of observing for a little while. And it's not because
I'm trying to be anti social or not talk I'm
trying to like read the room and see, Okay, who
do I probably gravitate to first that might make me
feel more comfortable to get going and get talkative. And
then who could I talk to in this kind of way?
And who do I need to kind of talk to
in this kind of way, like whenever it comes to
(29:26):
like certain things, right like with if it's like Skyler, Okay,
if I'm working with Skyler, I can be blunt. I
can be very blunt with Skyler, and I can say
whatever I want and I do not need to worry
about hurting her feelings. There might be another player I
need to kind of baby you a little bit. I
need to hype you up a little bit more.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
You know.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
But then there's also the player where they're like, give
it to me straight and tell me off and piss
me off, because there's those players that want to be
pissed off going into playing, and I can do that
for you. So for me, it's just like observing and learning,
and I feel like I do that in business too.
I try to make sure business, like if I'm working
with a bigger group on a project or something like that,
like I want to make everybody collectively, you know, feel
(30:07):
included and we're all going to be able to get
to that end goal and work together because ultimately, like
there's room for everybody to win, everybody to eat, make money,
do all the things that we need to do, and
we get there a lot faster when we work together.
So like, I'm really big on just trying to get
everybody in together, working as a collective and on the
same path. I might throw out a really good idea
(30:30):
and all of a sudden, the investors or whoever it
might be, is like super honed in on this idea.
But I don't want Joe up here to feel not
included because his idea wasn't like latched onto. And it's
not that I'm taking away from my shine. Trust me,
I don't want to do that either, as like a
woman and everything else, like I want, I want my
respect and my flowers and all the things. But I'm
(30:51):
also going to go and bring Joe back in and
be like, Joe, can you like elaborate more on that
idea and like what we could do and how we
could expand here, Like I want to make sure that
team is always working together. And I just feel like
I learned that from softball and observing and learning how
to lead in different ways depending on what was needed.
I lead based off what's needed.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
On the business side, you have thirty two approach with
a good friend Summers Thomas Summers when you're thinking of
shout out, Summers, gotta do that one. We didn't want
to talk to Skyler too, like we know you have
to Yeah, oh yeah, he's all that. Yeah, he's gonna
say it means a lot to me, Like I know exactly,
he's gonna be stroking.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
He's like, yeah, it means a lot to me.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
J Yeah, I know, I know. Summers. When you think
about trying to lead, and you're educating. You're continuing to motivate, educate,
show what it is that got you to a place
that you are to help young softball players reach that
in their careers. When you're thinking about your overarching goal
or the mission, or like the one thing you would
(31:57):
want to say to the young athletes that you work
with or want to continue to work with, what is that?
What do you tell them to motivate and to know
that they can get to that space?
Speaker 2 (32:06):
Probably just you get out what you put in right,
and there's nothing that you can accomplish without some hard
work and consistency. You know things are going to be
high and low, But eventually the highs and low start
to even out a little bit more. The highs don't
get too high, the lows don't get too low. But
also just like the importance of being a good person,
(32:28):
like I can't explain enough just how much that plays
into to so many roles, Like there's moments where yes,
you may need to be selfish, but being able to
also take a step back and look at the overall goal,
like especially as softball players, like you can't do it
all on your own. You need somebody else. You need
a team, you need your coaches, you need all these people.
(32:48):
So just the always I'm going to pull out a
quote from my mom, just always doing the right thing
even when nobody's watching. If you always do the right
thing even when nobody's watching, I just can't see that
you're not going to have access and reach the goals
that you want.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
And that reminds me of another one, like treat the
janitor the same way you treat the CEO. You gotta
be good to everybody. Absolutely, People remember that stuff we
talked earlier. You talked about your softball IQ and when
you're hitting off of Sarah Poly how you kind of
knew that when you're thinking of someone stepping up to
the plate, how would you let someone know something that
(33:23):
you're working with? Okay, this is probably what you should
look for, or this is how you can anticipate this.
How did you create that or develop that your IQ?
And how would you explain it to someone?
Speaker 2 (33:34):
A big part of it is my ability to turn
it off too, So it's weird. It's like developing that
IQ is yes, like obviously being aware of it and
studying it. But when I'm in a game, there's times
where I know when to turn it off because it
becomes too much, And there's times when I know I
can turn it back on and be like, Okay, let's
break this down really quick. But let's not like, let's
not zone in on it to the point where now
(33:56):
I'm walking up to the plate thinking is it Am
I getting rise? Am I getting curb? Am I getting dropped?
Like I can't be thinking all of that. I have
to go in with a plan. And so for me,
I got there I think by just one studying film two,
asking a lot of questions. I love having conversations with
my teammates, with my coaches. I love hearing what other
(34:17):
people are seeing. Like, like I said, it's like the
ego thing, right, Like I'm not one to just think
that my way is the only way and that that's
what's going to work for me If I got out,
obviously something I did didn't work, So why not listen
and hear out other people? But like I'm able to
like filter, right, I'm going to filter what I hear
and what I get and take what I need. But
then I can get rid of what I don't need.
(34:38):
And so for me, like just learning like effective velocity
and how pitchers try to set up hitters. There's a
lot of times where I think both Sinny and I
we sometimes know what's coming to us. We may not
know the pitch, but we might know probably what side
it's going to be on, and we just trust ourselves
to be able to adjust to the pitch. I love
(34:58):
hitting me some change up, so that's a plus for me.
For me, I'm like, yes, please throw me the changeup.
So I think that the big thing there is just
you know, tipping my cap when I get fold, but
also knowing that I've done the research and everything else.
I need to be successful, hopefully more often than not.
But I think just really understanding how pitchers throw me
(35:19):
off has been the biggest thing. I pay attention to
those things. Like every year in AU there's been a
new way people have tried to attack me, and I'm
always trying to come in, you know, adjusted to those things.
So like last year, last year, towards the end of season,
I feel like we started to go away to me
a lot. Year before that, it was like change up
(35:41):
mixed with Harden. It was like trying to get me
off balance. And so it's like this year, my hope
and my goal is that with all the work that
I've done, I'm wanting to pull it all together. So
if there's never one thing you're getting me out on,
you have to mix it a lot more because then
for me, it just feels like my adjustment. Don't have
to be so drastic. If that's the case, If I'm
(36:03):
able to make you have to get me out on
multiple things, not just one thing, then I'm doing something right.
Don't work twice.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
It's hard to give me a You can be exhausted
getting me out. We'll be dropping more diamonds after these messages.
What would you say in softball is like your softball dick?
Speaker 2 (36:32):
Oh, I don't like when your skin shows from your
socks to your pants.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
That okay, Like you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (36:44):
Like the knee cleavage, right, Oh, I don't like that.
I'm like, no, I just grow, I don't know, gross
me out a little bit. I don't like it at all.
Speaker 1 (36:54):
No knee cleavage. No, And you know what, sometimes you
couldn't even help it, like when you it's like the
short socks. It's like, y'all, I feel like I would
get knee cleavage a lot. I'm like, I don't want to.
I slide a lot, y'all. I would prefer this cover
of my knee so this doesn't get scraped up. But
y'all about to see my I thought it said them
a Brillian inappropriate instead of like, you know, like boobs,
(37:16):
like boob cleavage. I wasn't called it like the knitties
instead of the titties. Y'all about to see my nitties anyways,
that you know for sure we're gonna go into my
favorite segment, that no fly zone segment, Sierra, whether it's
(37:38):
the outfield or the infield, you turned the field into
a no fly zone. What is your favorite play you
have ever made in your career?
Speaker 2 (37:47):
Ooh, favorite is probably like backhand going up the middle,
jump to a Jeter throw, throw to first base, get
her out. I grew up watching Derek Jeter watching him
make that play, and you know, I wanted to take
it and be able to do that in softball, and
I was really pumped. First time that ever happened. When
was that the first time you did it? I think
(38:08):
the first time I did it like cleanly was college.
I definitely did it in travel ball, but it wasn't
like you know what I mean, it was like a tester. Yeah,
I felt like it wasn't as smooth. It wasn't like
it College was definitely the first time you.
Speaker 1 (38:21):
Are an elite fielder. But I feel like when we
think of Sierra Mara, everyone fears that swing and it's
just like, oh my god, here she comes. Developing your
swing and developing your skill set on the field. What
was that process like for you?
Speaker 2 (38:39):
I feel like it was tedious. I think. I mean,
you know, you do it all, you slap, you hit,
you all of a sudden would hit it out the
park and everyone's like, wait a second. And then she's
also running like a I don't even know two five
down the line for all I know. But it's it's
that whole like wanting to be a triple threat, right,
Like you want to have a little bit of everything.
You want to be able to hit the outside, the inside,
(39:01):
all the things. You don't want to be one dimensional.
So for me, it was very tedious, like you're constantly
critiquing yourself, You're constantly trying to perfect little things. But
I think that that's also what's so fun about our sport.
Like hitting is hard. Hitting is really hard. So sometimes
when people are like, oh, well, how do you do this?
And how did you do that? I promise you it's
not going to fix whatever issue you have going on
(39:22):
by me telling you the one thing I'm working on,
because yours is probably different and you probably need to
work on it for like ten hours, like consist like
you need to work on it for a long, long,
long time. It's not just going to be fixed if
I give you one drill, like you got to do
that one drill a million times before it gets to
where it needs to be. So obviously it was tedious
and it was very time consuming. But I think the
(39:44):
one thing that always stuck with me no matter what
was swinging with the purpose. I swung the bat. I
swung the bat to hit the absolute shit out the ball.
Speaker 1 (39:54):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (39:55):
That's what I do. If I'm gonna mishit it, it's
going to be hit hard. I don't like hitting little dinkers.
If I'm going to hit the ball, and if I'm
going to swing the bat, I'm swinging hard. Like you said,
I want you to be intimidated and scared what I'm
swinging the bat because I'm swinging with the purpose and
I'm swinging violently and like, I want to create that
power and that chaos.
Speaker 1 (40:16):
Creating the power, creating the chaos going up with intention
every single time you up to bat, or whether even
on the field as well. We know though that failure
is inevitable in this game, but failure leads to some
of the dopest successes. And you being one of the successful,
most successful collegiate players, especially most successful collegiate players that
(40:37):
ever came out of Michigan, what would you say is
your favorite failure that's ultimately led to some of your
best successes?
Speaker 2 (40:45):
So, dah, this was rough. I remember this when I
was at Michigan. I was at shortstop to start out
my career, and I remember Sarah Jazinga was pitching. She's
a heavy drop ball pitcher, and we were playing think
out here actually at the clear Water Feels any Seymore
And you know sometimes those fields can be a little
(41:06):
bit scary, you know that dirt, can you be? I
think it was definitely in my head a little bit,
and she was doing her job getting me ground ball
after ground ball, and I at one point I think
I think I probably had I'm not kidding, like probably
six or eight air is that game, and I remember
getting the ball, running it back to her and being like, dude,
(41:29):
I'm sorry, like I'm trying. I'm trying really hard out here,
but like it's just not going my way, and Sarah
being Sarah, she's like it's okay. She's like, you're fine,
Like I'm going to get you another ground ball. You're
going to get her out, and we're good. And eventually
she gets me another ground ball. I feeled it make
the play, and I remember, and this was my freshman year,
(41:51):
so I'm like embarrassed. I'm like, man, they're gonna think, oh,
she's just some freshman, like she's not that good, or
they need coach needs to take her out. And I
remember in that moment, I had so much self doubt.
I was like, do I suck? Like what is going on?
Like I'm letting my team down. Like I can't even
feel the ground ball, like I was turning into a
catcher at shortstop. I was just trying to block it
(42:12):
at that point, like I was like, just stay in
front of me. My teammates are telling me I'm fine whatever,
I'm totally not feeling fine, and I just remember looking
at Hutch and I know the look I gave her,
I for sure gave her like a defeated probably look
like I don't know if I can do this, And
I just remember her looking at me and going, you
better figure it out because I'm not taking you out
(42:34):
of this a fine game. And I was like, yes, ma'am, okay,
all right, but I'm f I guess I gotta figure
it out. So for me after that, it was like, Okay,
part of me figuring out is I need to make
up for it with hitting. So for me, it was
like get the hit, get on base, do whatever I
needed to do to help. But I definitely think that
feeling the confidence from my teammates, feeling the confidence and
(42:57):
motivation from my coach was like come on, like you're fine,
Like don't overthink this, like you got this kind of thing.
So that was definitely a moment where I was like
all a little a little mental there because I was like,
I can't fill this grumball to save my life right now,
and I don't want to be the reason we lose
this game.
Speaker 1 (43:17):
And that can be like the most defeating feeling to
where we're saying like, yo, I am trying, like I
have no answers for you. I don't know, but coming
be able to come back from is kind of just
like you snap out of it. Right, Look, I'm good,
I know I'm good. Let me just make this play
and get out and move to the next one. And
then moving forward through success once you realize you got
(43:40):
to like the worst game you've ever played, so all right, well,
can't be worse than that. Literally, I'm gonna keep going
at that, keep going.
Speaker 2 (43:48):
Once you start to have some of that success too,
you know then what you're capable of. So then you
get to that rut you're like this will pass, like whatever,
Like this is literally going to pass. I know who
I am, I know what I'm capable of whatever. And
in that moment for me, though, it was like I
didn't know yet what I was capable of. I knew
what travel ball in high school ser was capable of,
(44:10):
but now I was trying to figure out who am
I as a collegiate Division one softball player, and I
was trying to prove myself and prove I deserve to start.
And I was still just trying to prove that I
had earned all those things because that was my big thing,
Like I never want something that I don't deserve or
that I didn't earn. So for me, it's like I
don't want anything handed to me. And in that moment,
(44:30):
I didn't want to be wrong right and be like dang,
you know, maybe I shouldn't be a starter, Like no,
I should. I just hadn't had that success yet. That
really gave me that confidence in that moment as a
freshman when that happened, I was like definitely questioning a lot.
You know. I feel like after the game, my confidence
(44:51):
really kicked in. Thank goodness, Like I wasn't someone who
just kind of was like, oh man, that was terrible.
I sucked whatever. Hutch was worried about me, and and
when I got back to Michigan after that tournament, she
called me in for a meeting and I'm thinking, I'm
in trouble. I'm like, what did I do? I've been
going to class. I don't know what she's calling me
in for. She was like, I just want to check
in with you and see how you're doing after this weekend.
(45:14):
And I was like I'm fine, Like what do you mean?
Like why wouldn't I be okay? She's like, well, you
know those airs this you didn't play very good and
I was like, yeah, I just didn't do what I
normally do. And like for me, it was like it
was like, this is no big deal, This isn't something
we need to talk about or like sit on like
I'm I'm fine, Like I I want to practice now.
(45:35):
I want to get this week over with with practice,
and I want to go play and I want to
you know, kick some ass, give me another opportunity, like
let's go.
Speaker 1 (45:43):
All it was that doesn't do what I normally do?
That was that was wasn't that wasnt Sierra. That was
somebody Elseira this week? Right, Yeah, next for our whole
conversation where we talk about dropping diamonds and being able
to feel and know exactly who you are. It's like
going out and proving yourself wrong. That person wasn't the
(46:04):
Sierra that I know I'm capable of the age and
I know I'm capable of and once you do get
that next opportunity, be so good that they can't ignore you. Yes, Sierra,
thank you so much for coming on dropping diamonds and
dropping your diamonds. I feel like, I mean, this doesn't
fire you up. I don't know what it is at
the end of the day, nobody's better than you. The
(46:26):
mentality of Sierra. Nobody's better than you. They just got lucky.
So next time, just don't let them get lucky.
Speaker 2 (46:33):
Exactly. Thank you so much for having me. This is awesome.
Speaker 1 (46:37):
I appreciate it all right, y'all, Remember, be so good
that they can't ignore you. And if they got you out,
they just got lucky. So go up the second time,
the third, the fourth. Inevitably, eventually you will win. I'll
meet y'all next week back here on the diamond by
for Now. Dropping Diamonds with AJ Andrews is an iHeart
(47:01):
women's sports production in partnership with Athletes Unlimited Softball League
and Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. I'm your host, AJ Andrews.
Our executive producer is Jesse Katz. Tari Harrison is our
supervising producer, and this episode was mixed and mastered by
Mary Do. Listen to Dropping Diamonds with AJ Andrews on
the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your
(47:24):
podcasts
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